54 BALCAZAR: Antheraea from Mexico TROPICAL LEPIDOPTERA

TROPICAL LEPIDOPTERA, 5(1): 54-56 A NEW SUBSPECIES FROM MEXICO OF ANTHERAEA POLYPHEMUS (LEPIDOPTERA: SATURNIIDAE)

MANUEL A. BALCAZAR-L. AND LEONILA VAZQUEZ-G.

Florida State Collection of Arthropods, P.O. Box 147100, Gainesville, FL 32614, USA; and Dept. de Zoologfa, Institute de Biologia, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-153, 04510 Mexico, D.F., Mexico

ABSTRACT.- A new subspecies of Antheraea is described from the region of Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico: A. polyphemus tuxtlasensis n. subsp. RESUMEN.- Se describe una nueva subespecie de Antheraea de la region de Los Tuxtlas, en Veracruz, Mexico: A. polyphemus tuxtlasensis n. subsp.

KEY WORDS: Antheraea polyphemus tuxtlasensis n. subsp., Aves, Fagaceae, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Neotropical, Pieridae, Pinaceae, Veracruz.

While studying Mexican material of Antheraea polyphemus (Cramer), looking for characters for a cladistic analysis, the senior author found an isolated and morphologically different population not previously described.

Antheraea polyphemus tuxtlasensis Balcazar & Vazquez, new subsp.

DIAGNOSIS.- This subspecies can be differentiated from other subspecies of A. polyphemus by the following combination of characters. Crenulate termen, principally that of the hindwing; P black ring of the eyespot in the hindwing extends basally across the middle of the discal cell, as opposed to that of the forewings; a blue "crescent" of strewn scales present on the eye spot on the ventral side of forewings; apical angles of both pairs of wings falcate; yellow ground color. DESCRIPTION.- MALE (Fig. 1).- General ground color yellow. Fig. 1. Antheraea polyphemus tuxtlasensis Balcazar & Vazquez, new subsp Forewing: falcate, termen slightly wavy; antemedial line present holotype

Fig. 2. Antheraea polyphemus tuxtlasensis Balcazar & Vazquez, new subsp., male genitalia (holotype, MABL 1991): a) ventral view; b) lateral view; c) aedeagus in lateral view.

Caballo. Puebla: Huauchinango; Xicotepec, Villa Juarez. Tam- (Escalante et al., 1993), and the pierid Dismorphia eunoe popo- aulipas: Cumbres de Ciudad Victoria. Veracruz'. Jalapa; Orizaba), luca Llorente and Luis (1988). There is evidence of the extreme Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (Michoacdn: Uruapan. Morelos: differentiation of the Los Tuxtlas populations of the bush tanager Cuernavaca), Sierra Madre del Sur (Guerrero: Acahuizotla) Chlorospingus ophtalmicus and the brush-finch Atlapetes (Balcazar, 1991), and Sierra Madre de Chiapas. Despite the brunneinucha in allozyme characters (Peterson et al., 1992). proximity of the type locality of A. p. mexicana (near the junction of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Sierra Madre ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Oriental) and the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, the later is physiogeogra- phically and biogeographically different. Our special thanks go to M. C. Hector Perez and Mrs. Rosa The Tuxtlas Mountains are an isolated, late Cenozoic volcanic Sanchez Sarabia, (IBUNAM, Mexico) who collected the first range, 88.5km long and 53.1km wide, stretching northwest to specimens of this new subspecies. I (MAB) wish to thank the southeast along the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (Ross, [1976]-77; Direccion General de Asuntos del Personal Academico (UNAM, Raguso and Llorente, 1991). The type locality of A. p. tuxtla- Mexico) for its support during my Master's studies, also to Dr. sensis is situated in the only substantial oak-pine forests in the Carlos Beutelspacher, who encouraged me to study the Mexican area, on the southern slopes of the Santa Marta volcano (Ross, taxa of Antheraea (IBUNAM, Mexico). We are grateful to [1976]-77). Sousa (1968) and Sarukhan (1968) have suggested George Steyskal, G. B. Fairchild and J. B. Heppner (Florida State that the presence of Quercus in these tropical areas of Mexico Collection of Arthropods, Gainesville, Florida) for critically represent a relictual condition from other ages when the weather reading the manuscript. was cooler. They correlated this condition with Pleistocene gla- ciers. The Sierra de los Tuxtlas is surrounded by the Gulf Coast LITERATURE CITED Plain, which has an altitudinal range from 0-200 masl (Ferrusqufa, 1993); hence the extreme isolation of the montane Balcazar-L., M. A. habitats in the region. We consider that this isolation has led to 1991. Sistematica y biogeograffa del genero Antheraea Hiibner en the appearance of A. p. tuxtlasensis, as has been suggested for Norteamerica (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae). Master's thesis, Univ. other montane or submontane endemic taxa in the area: the quail- Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. 71pp. Escalante-P., P., A. G. Navarro-S., and A. T. Peterson dove Geotrygon carrikeri Wetmore, and birds such as Atlapetes 1993. A geographic, historical, and ecological analysis of avian brunneinucha apertus and Chlorospingus opthalmicus wetmorei diversity in Mexico. In T. P. Ramamoorthy et al. (eds.), 56 BALCAZAR: Antheraea from Mexico TROPICAL LEPIDOPTERA

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